The B.C. NDP’s agriculture and lands critic believes the gap at the top of her party provides an opening for her to demand that the next party leader protect the Agricultural Land Reserve.

“My background is around farming and sustainability, so I want to see a leader who can present a credible argument for keeping that strong in British Columbia,” Lana Popham, the MLA for Saanich South since 2009, said in a sit-down interview in theGeorgia Straight offices. “So I want someone who will stand up strongly for the ALR. As the NDP, we have that in our back pocket as something that we brought in, but we need to do a lot more work around making it news and making it important.”

Popham was one of the 13 MLAs who called for a leadership contest to replace NDP Leader Carole James, who announced her resignation earlier this month. However, Popham said she is “absolutely not interested” in running to replace James next spring when the party chooses its new leader.

Instead, Popham said she wants to offer her view that the next party leader “present a clear sustainability message”. Popham, a successful small-scale organic farmer, said this is “very related to agriculture and our domestic economy”.

“I think that food security has the potential to be a very big economic driver here in B.C., because we’re set up for it as far as our growing potential goes,” she added.

Ideally, Popham said, B.C.’s government should position itself to facilitate a new generation of farmers, including “more localized smaller-lot farms, sustainable farming”, which she claimed is “really what the consumer is interested in, and we have 4.5 million consumers in B.C.”

One factor driving how local farming will develop in B.C. is peak oil, Popham claimed. Peak oil refers to the point when world oil production peaks, after which either the price rises exponentially to reflect plummeting supplies, or the demand drops to keep prices stable.

“Do I think we’ve reached it? I think we need to live like we have, because even if we haven’t at this moment, I don’t believe that it’s very far off,” Popham said.

Lana Popham, Incumbent & Candidate for Saanich South MLA

Welcome!

I've worked hard as the Official Opposition Critic for Agriculture over the last four years. This blog was created to help track my work so interested folks can see what I'm up to.

I'm not able to update it as often as I would like but it will give you a good sampling of my work.

During the dissolution of the BC Legislature (April 16 - June 5, 2013) this site will be shut down. Some content may remain visible as part of the public record of my past work but other content will be unvailable and/or links may be broken.

You can reach me at info@lanapopham.ca or visit my website at lanapopham.ca.